ADC member killed in ambush, six hurt in blast

- Second attack on elected representative since April, police yet to identify rebel group behind attack

KHELEN THOKCHOM

Imphal, July 12: Suspected militants gunned down a member of the Ukhrul Autonomous District Council while six civilians, including a minor, sustained splinter injuries in a bomb blast in two separate incidents in Manipur today.

Police said armed militants ambushed Ukhrul ADC member Ngalangzar Malue’s van at Finch corner in Ukhrul district, nearly 60km from Imphal, at 11.30am today. He died on the spot.

His driver and his son Rataini, 22, sustained injuries and were admitted to a hospital here.

The police said Malue, 65, who was staying at ADC Colony here, was on his way home at Nongman village under Pungyar subdivision of Ukhrul district, when they were attacked at 9.30am.

The police could not immediately identify the group behind the attack and the motive.

This is the second ambush on elected representatives in Ukhrul district since April this year.

On April 9, militants ambushed the convoy of Deputy Speaker M.K. Preshow Shimray at Litan, 23km from Imphal along the Imphal-Ukhrul road.

Shimray escaped unhurt.

The Deputy Speaker was returning to Imphal after casting his vote at his village Poi in Chingai Assembly constituency during the Outer Manipur parliamentary constituency election.

The hand of NSCN (I-M) militants was suspected to be behind the attack.

In another incident, militants exploded an IED at Langthabal Kunja, 8km from Imphal, along National Highway 2, injuring six civilians including a six-year-old boy, today.

The police said the bomb was planted on the branch of a banyan tree and detonated by a remote-controlled device.

The target of the blast was a two-vehicle convoy of the Assam Rifles.

“The bomb exploded when a convoy of the Assam Rifles was passing the area. However, no personnel was injured,” a police officer said.

All the six injured were travelling in an auto-rickshaw and were admitted to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences here.

Four of them are critical, doctors said.

The police interrogated seven persons who were working at a motor workshop located near the site of the blast.

The impact of the blast was so powerful that a big branch of the tree, on which the bomb was fitted, was blown off. The IED contained ball bearings and police recovered some of them from the spot.

No group claimed responsibility for the incidents.

The residents of the area strongly condemned the incident.

“This is a highway and the traffic was huge when the incident took place. Any right-thinking person should not do such things, as innocent civilians are killed,” Mani Devi, a meira paibi (women’s activist) leader of the area said.

Senior police officials, including the director-general of police Shahid Ahmed, visited the spot to investigate the incident.